Most mornings I go for either a run or walk before getting ready and heading to work. During the summer months, it often gets really hot (even at 5:30 am) and it can be hard to get motivated to get outside each morning. I find it funny that as August begins, I actually start looking forward to getting out there each morning, and this morning I figured out why...School is starting back again. On my run this morning, I was able to see a couple of our JISD buses making their dry run. Earlier this week, I was able to see the lights on at our football field as JHS Football practiced early in the morning. Last week, my run overlapped our HS cross country runners as they changed their running location to the neighborhood rather than the JHS complex. Those sights and sounds, in addition to the band practicing in the August heat, volleyball gearing up, and the teachers returning to campus always make this an exciting time for me, and I truly appreciate the extra motivation it gives me to get up each morning and exercise! It has been hard this summer to ignore the construction zones that exist all over Jarrell ISD. Almost every facility had some sort of active construction or remodeling. At Jarrell Middle School, they are finishing up a twelve room expansion that should wrap up in the next month. This addition will have eight classrooms and four science labs for our students to utilize as we meet the growing needs of that campus. Jarrell High School has been a MAJOR Construction Zone this summer - we even had to limit access to the building as there was no way to enter the building except from the back. The addition that is being constructed in the rear of JHS is a classroom addition that will house four science labs and eight classrooms (just like JMS). This project should be completed by March of 2020. In front of the school is where the auditorium is being constructed. When completed it will be a 752 seat state of the art performance complex. This part of construction is very intricate, and will take longer as it will not be ready until about November of 2020. |
The largest construction project we had this year was probably also the most anticipated project- and that was Igo Elementary. Igo is a Pre K-5 elementary campus with a capacity of over 800 students. Igo will join Jarrell Elementary School in serving JISD Elementary aged students. I was positively overwhelmed by the number of people who came out Saturday to the Grand Opening and Dedication of Igo Elementary. We were so happy that surviving members of the Igo family were able to be on hand as we celebrated the opening of the newest member of our JISD family.
In addition to our buildings, we have lots of changes involving people! Our school board has added over 15 new staff members for the 2019-2020 school year, with almost all of those teacher units. They are striving to meet the needs of our ever growing school community. The other people change that we encounter each year is student growth. We will not have good numbers until we start school, but I believe that JISD will exceed 2100 students before September 1st. Our demographic projections have us hitting 2114 by the end of October which would be an 11.4% growth over the previous year, but in actuality I am pretty certain we will easily exceed that number. With all that said, we have poised ourselves to welcome all new and returning students to Jarrell ISD and help them reach their academic potential.
All of our Jarrell ISD staff are here to assist our students and their families. If you have a question or concern, please reach out to our teachers, principals, or directors. A phone call or an email may be all you need to get whatever information for which you are searching. We are in the people business - and we do want to help each and every one of you. That is part of the Jarrell Way. It takes good positive relationships between our staff, our students, and our parents. as we all want to reach the same goal of allowing our JISD students achieve their goals and dreams.